“The Central Intelligence Agency participates in the proliferation of illegal drugs in the United States.”

The Washington Post followed-up two days later, on October 4, 1996, with a story entitled, "The CIA and Crack: Evidence Is Lacking of Alleged Plot." … The Los Angeles Times concentrated on three claims raised by the Mercury News series: 1) that a drug ring related to the CIA had sent millions of dollars to the Contras; 2) that the same drug ring had created a cocaine epidemic in South Central Los Angeles and other United States cities, and 3) that the CIA had approved a plan for the ring to raise money for the Contras through drug trafficking or had deliberately turned a blind eye to the drug ring's activities. The Los Angeles Times found that "the available evidence, based on an extensive review of court documents and more than 100 interviews in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and Managua, fails to support any of those allegations."

No information has been found to indicate that any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing with Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandon or Iuan Norwin Meneses. … No information has been found to indicate that Ross provided any money to any Contra group at any time, or that he had any contact or connection to the Contras or CIA. … No information has been found to indicate that CIA hindered, or otherwise intervened in, the investigation, arrest, prosecution, or conviction of Ross, Blandon, or Meneses.

Our review did not substantiate the allegations that the investigations of Blandon were compromised or altered because of any involvement by the CIA. … We concluded that the main allegations suggested by the Mercury News articles were unsubstantiated. … Such factors, rather than anything as extraordinary as efforts by the CIA or others to protect the drug trafficking activities of these Contra supporters, determined the outcome in these cases we examined.

On the whole, our review did not substantiate the main allegations stated and implied in the Mercury News articles. … Moreover, we did not find supported the implication that the individuals discussed in the Mercury News articles were connected to the CIA. Nor, with one exception, did we find that the CIA or any other national security entity interceded on their behalf. … We concluded that the main allegations suggested by the Mercury News articles were unsubstantiated.

Webb later agreed in an interview that there is no hard evidence that the CIA as an institution or any of its agent-employees carried out or profited from drug trafficking. … The IG's report cleared the CIA of complicity with the inner-city crack cocaine trade. It refuted charges that CIA officials knew that their Nicaraguan allies were dealing drugs. But, the report said that the CIA, in a number of cases, didn't bother to look into allegations about narcotics … "I believe that elements working for the CIA were involved in bringing drugs into the country," said Hector Berrellez, DEA field agent. "I know specifically that some of the CIA contract workers, meaning some of the pilots, in fact were bringing drugs into the U.S. and landing some of these drugs in government air bases. And I know so because I was told by some of these pilots that in fact they had done that."

The documents demonstrate official knowledge of drug operations, and collaboration with and protection of known drug traffickers. … The Washington Post reported that Chamorro said he had called his CIA control officer to ask if the contras could accept money and arms from Morales, who was at the time under indictment for cocaine smuggling. "They said [Morales] was fine," Chamorro told the Post.

The documents demonstrate official knowledge of drug operations, and collaboration with and protection of known drug traffickers. … The Washington Post reported that Chamorro said he had called his CIA control officer to ask if the contras could accept money and arms from Morales, who was at the time under indictment for cocaine smuggling. "They said [Morales] was fine," Chamorro told the Post.

Broad in scope and extensively documented, Cocaine Politics shows that under the cover of national security and covert operations, the U.S. government has repeatedly collaborated with and protected major international drug traffickers.

ALLEGATIONS OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CIA AND THE CONTRAS IN COCAINE TRAFFICKING TO THE UNITED STATES

The San Jose Mercury News articles spurred renewed interest in the subject of drug trafficking in support of the Contras, particularly the allegation that certain Contra supporters described in the articles trafficked drugs with the knowledge and support of the CIA and were responsible for the crack explosion in southern California and throughout the United States. … Our investigation did not focus on what CIA employees knew or did with regard to these and other Contra drug trafficking activities. The CIA Inspector General has jurisdiction over that subject and will report his findings in his own, separate report.

No information has been found to indicate that CIA as an organization or its employees conspired with, or assisted, Contra-related organizations or individuals in drug trafficking to raise funds for the Contras or for any other purpose.

Before I go any further, I want to make clear that we found absolutely no evidence to indicate that CIA as an organization or its employees were involved in any conspiracy to bring drugs into the United States.

A long-awaited Justice Department report released Thursday found no link between the Central Intelligence Agency and

Did CIA have any relationship or dealings with Ross, Blandon or Meneses? No information has been found to indicate that any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing with Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandon or Juan Norwin Meneses. … Was the drug trafficking of Ross, Blandon or Meneses linked to CIA or Contra activities? No information has been found to indicate that Ross provided any money to any Contra group at any time, or that he had any contact or connection to the Contras or CIA.

The report concluded that "no information has been found to indicate that CIA as an organization or its employees conspired with, or assisted, Contra-related organizations or individuals in drug trafficking to raise funds for the Contras or for any other purpose." … Volume I of the report, which was issued on January 29, 1998, found no evidence that would substantiate The San Jose Mercury News allegations that the CIA had any involvement with Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandon, or Juan Norwin Meneses, or in cocaine trafficking in California to raise funds for the Contras.

Senate investigators found that Contra rebels in Nicaragua were involved in drug trafficking and U.S. officials were aware of this activity while it was happening or immediately after, a report said Thursday. … The subcommittee, which opened the investigation in 1987, found 'considerable evidence' that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, that the Contra supply network was used by drug smugglers and that 'the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers.' 'In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occuring, or immediately thereafter,' the report said.

For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to an arm of the contra guerrillas of Nicaragua run by the Central Intelligence Agency. … Agents from four organizations - the DEA, U.S. Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement - have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed "national-security" interests.

Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States

Their investigations have generally noted that there is no clear evidence CIA itself had ever directly engaged in drug trafficking, although there may have been instances of the organization being indirectly complicit in the activities of others.

Two years ago Gary Webb touched off a national controversy with his news stories linking the CIA and the Nicaraguan Contras to the rise of the crack epidemic in Los Angeles and elsewhere. … The Central Intelligence Agency continued to work with about two dozen Nicaraguan rebels and their supporters during the 1980s despite allegations that they were trafficking in drugs, according to a classified study by the C.I.A.

The San Jose Mercury News claimed to have unearthed damning evidence showing that the CIA had conspired with the Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s to import cocaine into the US. … Such truculence had been triggered by insinuations within the Mercury News story that CIA operations included involvement with the crack cocaine trade in black neighbourhoods

Evidence suggests that during the cold war the CIA did indeed cultivate many dubious drug related alliances in the name of national security. … It is argued here, however, that the notion of conspiracy based on skin colour merely detracts from the systemic failings of Washington's approach to drug control and ignores the Agency's indiscriminate pursuit of its anti-Communist agenda.

Their investigations have generally noted that there is no clear evidence CIA itself had ever directly engaged in drug trafficking, although there may have been instances of the organization being indirectly complicit in the activities of others. … In most cases, the CIA's role involved various forms of complicity, tolerance or studied ignorance about the trade, not any direct culpability in the actual trafficking ... [t]he CIA did not handle heroin, but it did provide its drug lord allies with transport, arms, and political protection.

Before i go any further, I want to make clear that we found absolutely no evidence to indicate that CIA as an organization or its employees were involved in any conspiracy to bring drugs into the United States.

Based on its investigation, involving numerous interviews, reviews of extensive documentation and a thorough and critical reading of other investigative reports, the Committee has concluded that the implications of the San Jose Mercury News that the CIA was responsible for the crack epidemic in Los Angeles or anywhere else in the United States to further the cause of the Contra War in Central America-were wrong.

The series alleged that a drug ring in L.A. sold tons of crack to a primarily African-American population in the city, with profits then smuggled back to Nicaragua to a group of CIA-backed Contras. … The series resulted in four separate investigations into CIA wrongdoing, including one by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, which concluded that there were “serious questions as to whether or not US officials… failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war against Nicaragua.”

The Subcommittee determined that there was "substantial evidence of drug smuggling... on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots, mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters".

Allegations of a CIA connection to crack cocaine epidemic : hearings before the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, second session ... Wednesday, October 23, 1996; Tuesday, November 26, 1996

ALLEGATIONS OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CIA AND THE CONTRAS IN COCAINE TRAFFICKING TO THE UNITED STATES (96-0143-IG) Volume II: The Contra Story